mattj

Great, thank you. I guess the Patient is thrilled with the results (crown + rest).

He's definitely thrilled as he had quite an obvious bald spot (as you can see) and the surgery has eliminated that. The patient will be coming in after 12 months and we'll update with more photos.

I'll look into getting the graft count. Those are the photos the patient sent. We'll get a better range of views when he comes in.

It was enough grafts to do the job, with density is on the conservative side.

I'm not sure if he's on meds (I can find out) but either way it was a good idea to keep some grafts for possible future work.

For reference, I'm adding some before and after his FUT procedure.

I've posted photos of this patient's FUE crown procedure here.

This patient previously had a larger FUT procedure, mainly to address his frontal zones. We recently shared his case here.

He is now 9.5 months out from a small FUE procedure to fill in his crown. You can see how Dr Rahal recreated the whorl, which is the most difficult part of a crown restoration.

Photos were taken by the patient. We'll take more when he comes in.

My father died early (aged 58 - about the same age as George Clooney) but he never receded and had very thick hair. I've no doubt he would have still had the same hair if he had lived to 98.

We cite celebrities because they are examples of men that we are all familiar with and we can find high-res photos of them. Of course some of them have had help to look like they do, but many haven't and I really don't think that either of the examples mentioned in this thread are anything but naturally blessed with great hair.

But that's a side issue, as ultimately we don't need to look at celebrity examples because we all see men on a day to day basis and can see that it isn't uncommon for older men to still retain the same hairlines that they had in their youth.

Good point, but he did say that his health wouldn't suffer if he stopped the medication.

I couldn't possibly give you any accurate advice there. Sorry. I'm not a doctor and, frankly, I don't think even a doctor could be certain. There's simply no data to go by. I'm sure you can appreciate that nobody knows if Ritalin will affect the outcome of a hair transplant. I would just go by what your doctor tells you. They will err on the side of caution which will mean that you'll have to try and go without the drug.

Is it that bad stopping the stuff?

I'll echo and others and say that it's impossible to tell. It's never possible to give a genuinely accurate assessment of donor density from photos. We can tell if density is very low and we might get some idea if it is very high, but as most people hover around the average, it's not possible to say exactly how far from that average they are. In your case it's made more difficult by your hair being slightly longer.

You give the forum a heap of laughs and positivity. Your hair looks great too! If anyone can give the Big C the smackdown it's you.

The video quality has increased and everything recorded recently is of a high resolution. Like the first of the five I posted above.

Celebrities are good to look at to see examples of older men with low, perhaps 'juvenile' hairlines. Their photos are all over the internet. But all you have to do is look around you while you're out 'n about and you'll see ordinary men who haven't lost any hair. They're the lucky few. They don't look abnormal - far from it - they look great!

Looking good! It's those little moments when you randomly catch sight of your hair that make it worth it. It serves as a reminder that you made the right decision. That's how I feel.

This is one of those situations where we can't know for sure if stopping or continuing on the medication will make any difference, but it's best to be cautious and stop, to protect your hair and your investment. The last thing you want is to have a failed transplant and to be left wondering if it would have worked if only you stopped the medication.

The patient is in his thirties and his hair is stable. Most patients have more conservative hairlines than this, but for the right patient it can be done.

Although hairloss is more common in men the older we get, there still remain those who don't recede. Look around you and you'll see them.

Here are some videos featuring patients with more advanced hairloss patterns.

It gave my receded hairline back too. Filled winow peaks.

 

You cannot care about these results when it gives you the sides i mentioned earlier. Wrecked me physically & mentally. Still, i consider myself lucky only TMJ stuck with me after dropping it.

I know. If it messes you up physically then there's absolutely no point in taking the drug. I was just interested in seeing what it did for your hairline. Fin so very rarely does anything for that area so it's interesting to see what can happen.

We got some video footage of this patient. An example of why Dr Rahal is the top doctor for FUE hairline results.

We took some video footage of this incredible FUE hairline. We posted the photos previously, but seeing the comb go through the hair really shows you the density and how natural it looks.

Original thread

They can be done and will normally require a few hundred grafts per side, depending on how receded they are.

Is this the only area from which you have lost hair?

Sounds very normal. Definitely not behind the curve.

First photo : November 2016 - starting fin 1mg / day only

 

Second photo : May 2017 - stopped taking it after 1 or 2 weeks after this photo.

 

Merck needs more people like you, keep defending this s.hit and take it like a candy, boys.

Looks like a very good response. Do you have any photos showing the difference it made for your hairline? That's the area that usually doesn't see as much regrowth.

Remember that you were due to shed transplanted hairs and what you saw could merely be some of those that hung on a bit longer.

I just read that you're 2 months post-op. Highly unlikely to be a lost graft at this stage. Sometimes pimples can bleed to I would guess that it was nothing to worry about.

How long ago was your surgery? With the bleeding, it does sound like you lost a graft.

This 30 year old male Norwood 5, was looking to recreate his hairline, add density to the top and work backwards, with crown to be treated in a second session. Dr Rahal did this using 4420 Grafts via FUT.

Surgery Type: FUT

Recipient Area Treated - 93cm

Total Grafts - 4420

Total Hairs - 9266

Recipient Graft Density - 47.5 grafts/cm

Recipient Hair Density - 99. 63 hairs/cm

Graft Breakdown:

Single Hairs - 738 grafts

Two Hairs - 2522 grafts

Three Hairs - 1156 grafts

Four Hairs - 4 grafts

Average Hairs Per Graft - 2.1

Thank you all for the advice. I’ve decided to give it a couple of years to see how things progress.

 

Can I ask, if I was to get a strip procedure in the future, where would they take the strip from? Would they stick within the fue extraction sites? Or would they take the strip from the area above?

 

Cheers

The FUE extractions would have been taken from across the whole donor area, so there will be no option but to take the strip from the same area.